This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is or is not prior art.
Torrefaction is a pretreatment of biomass at a temperature between 200° C. and 300° C. in the absence of oxygen. The process requires an input heat and a non-oxidizing gas blown through the torrefaction reactor. In the current known torrefaction technologies, either a portion of the gases released during the biomass torrefaction, or the combustion gases are used as the inert gas. The volatiles are partially or entirely burnt in a combustor with additional fuel such as natural gas to provide the heat requirement of the process. The flue gases containing a significant fraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) are discharged to the atmosphere, thereby polluting the environment.
Carbon dioxide is one of the major factors that contribute to the global climate changes. Efforts to reduce the generation and release of CO2 will help to control the current global warming trend and offer environmental benefits.